Door



May 22, 192s A. L. LAMBERT DOOR Filed Jan. 26, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l 34/ j INVENTOR WJM ' ATTORNEY May 22, 1928. I 1,670,859

, A. L. LAMBERT noon Filed Jan. Q6, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I I I I I I I? I I jy n INVENTOR {I WJM I l lax w I ATTORNEY May 22, 1928.

A.L.LAMBERT DOOR Filed Jan. 26, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR WJMfi ATTORNEY Patented May 22, 1928.

UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT 1.. LAMBERT, OIFIIPHILADELBHII'A, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNon TO nnnmz MANUFACTURI G COMPANY, or BHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- TION' 0F- I PEIYI'JSITSYLVANIA" DOOR..

i Application filed January 26, 1926. Serial No. 83,955.

This invention relates to doors, and more particularly relates to sheet metal doors for automobile bodies of the closed type.

The principal aim of this invention is to provide a sheet metal door for automobile bodies of the closed type, and to providea doorwhich is, sturdy and durable and at the same time is light in weight and inexpensive and simple in. construction. Other objects ofymyinvention willbe in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter. 'ln'acoord'ance with my inventiomthe outer panel'of the door and the verticalrails are made in one piece from a single sheet 1 of sheet metal, andfpreferabl'y by means of simple and uncomplicated stamping opera tion. The construction is reinforced trans versely by means ofa tube anchored at its opposite ends to the opposite vertical rails. This tube renders'thedoor very sturdy and rigid and braces the construction against distortion from torsional or other strains to which the; do'oris subjected during ordinary use. To provide a glass run for a window,

J I attach achannel member toeach vertical rail at intervals; r Y

In order that a clearer-understanding of my invention may be. had, attention is hereby directed to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this application and" illustrating certain possible embodiments of my invention.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 isa front view of the door, with; a lower edge broken away, a-ndlcertain'hid'den features of the construction being-shown in dotted lines; Fig; 2 is an end view of the door, showing in dotted lines theint'ernahlocation of certain of the partsg Fig. 3 isya broken horizontal sectionalview through'the upper part of the door, and is taken on the 'l-i'ne 3"'3- of Fig; 1; Fig; 41s a broken horizontal sectional view through" the center of the door,

and is taken on the line-4 4-'of Fig.1; Fig. 5 is'avertical sectional view of'a firagment h cured to the rail portion 10. The body portion ofmember 19' abuts and is secured to the main portion 9 of the rail, and atthe 'ofthe' door at the center, and is'takenonthe line 5-5 of Fig.1; and Figsa6, 7', 8' and 9 are each sectional views of different edge portions or the; door, and are taken, respec 'tively, on the lines 6-6, 7 7', 8'8 and"9 9 of'Fig; 1; 1 Similar reference chara'ct ers'refer to similar parts" throughout/the several cviews of the drawin s.

Referring to the rawings, the doorcom= each rail; I- attachachannel strip 21- inpl'ace by means of-angle prises a lower front panel 1 extending from edge toedge of the door, and from the bottom to the lower edgeof the window opening 2 and front panels 3 at each side of the window opening, and extending to the top of the door, the panels 1 and'3' being made in one piece and preferablyofsheet'metal.

At the hinge edge of the door, this sheet metal piece is doubled back on itself to provide the overhanging-door flange 1, then extends rearwardly, as at 5, then'inwardly, as at 6, and then forwardly, as at 7, forming a vertical hinge rail extending the-full height of the door. At the opposite edge of the door, the, sheet metal upon itself'to form the overhanging flange 8, then-hasa rearwardly extending portion 9conforming to the shapeof the door post, either straighter stepped, then bent inwardly, as at 10, and then'forwardly, asat 11, forming the other vertical rail of the door and extending the full height thereof. It will be noted that each of these rails is channel sha-ped in cross-section, and it will be recognized that this formation yields a very rigid, sturdy and, durable construction. At the'lower' edge ofthe window opening, the sheet metal piece is bent inwardly, as at 12. The inner edge of-this portion 12 may be piece is doubled back reinforced by an angle strip 13', which also serves, in combination with another strip 14, as means for retaining a strip15 of flexible material in position against the glass pane 16 of the window.

Across the center of the a sturdy reinforcing tube 17, which is anohored at each end to reinforcing plates,

door is located v which in turn are-securely attached to the vertical doorrails At the hinge rail, the reinforcing plate 18 is angle-shape, and

abuts and is secured to the walls 51 and 6 of the rail. At the opposite edge of" the door, the reinforcing plate 19 is of 'Z-shape, be-

cause-on this edge the rail is stepped. The

rear portion of member 19 abuts 'and'is se- To provide a channel for the 'gla'ss run on suitable sheet metal flange across plates or brackets 22, which have one leg seated against and secured to the rail portion 5 or 9, and have the other leg abutting and secured to the outside of one of the side 'walls of the channel members, as at 23,

Preferably, an open oint is left between the other side walls of the channel members and the adjacent rail portions 7 and 11, at the lower part of the door. Above thev window opening, however, these channel glass run members may be secured to inwardly bent edge portions of the front panel portions 3 and to the rail portions 7 and 11, as by welding.

Across the lower edge of the door on the inside is a sheet metal panel 24, which at its lower edge extends forwardly, as at 26, forming the bottom of the door, and is broken off downwardly along its forward edge, at 27, and'therc engaged between the doubled'over lower edge 28 of the panel 1, whereby these panels are anchored together at this location, and the overhanging the lower edge of the door is formed.

A plate 30 maybe secured across the inside-of the door at the center to support suitable window operating mechanism and up.- holstery, which it is not'deemed necessary nor proper to illustrate. The panel 2a is channel-shaped at its upper end, as at 25, to extend to the window runway.

To enhance the attractive appearance of the door, the panel 1 may be pre-formed with a transverse bead 31. i

The top of the door may be completed by extending. two sheet metal. strips 32 and 33 ,thereacross, and securing them at their ends to the verticalrails. As shown, one of these members 32Jmay have atop portion 34 extending -from the rear to the front of the door, thus closing the door at the top. If

desired, however, the top of the door may be left open. j

From the above, it will be apparent that by making theouter paneling-in one piece with the vertical side rails, and of a single piece of sheet metal, that simplicity of con struction and economy of material and labor in manufacture are obtained. the flanges at the 'door edges, the channelshaped formation of the vertical rails, and the tubular reinforcement and bracing, the door is extremely sturdy and durable. At each side of the window opening, a closed box formation is obtained, which .is well known to be extremely strong and not readily bent or twisted out ofshape. The glass run for the window is formedby very simple and few parts, quickly and easily. Further, the construction doesnotrequire the application or use of any screws or bolts, and although Weldng 1s employed, the construction is so arranged that no welding marks will appear By reason of which maybe put in place on visible surfaces of the door. The presence of such marks would detract from the attractive appearance of the structure.

As many changes could be madein the above construction and as many apparently.

*widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing fromthe scope thereof, it is intended that all mat ter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

WVhat I claim is I 1. In a door of the character described having a. window opening, a channel shaped glass runway member positioned the side of the windowv opening, and a one piece sheet metal door rail member extending from one side wall of said channel member around the closed side to the other wall thereof, said glass runway beingseated completely within the rail member and being secured to the opposite overlapping edges of the rail member,

2. In a door of the character described having a window opening, a channel shaped channel'member, said members constituting a tubular post construction at the side of the window opening, said rail member having an integral overhanging closureflange portion, r

3, In a door of the character described havinga window opening, a channel-shaped glass-run member positioned at the, side of the window opening, and a one-piece sheet metal door rail member extending from one side wallof said glass-run member, around the closed side, to the other wall thereof, forming a tubular post construction at the side of the window opening, said glass-run member being seated completely within the rail member and secured at its flange edges to the opposite edges of the rail member;

4. In a door of the character described having awindow opening, a channel-shaped glass-run member positioned atthe side of the window opening, and. a one-piece sheet metal. door rail member extending from one sidewall of said glass-run member around the closed side to the other wall thereof, said members being rigidly secured together to form a-tubular post construction at the side of the window opening, and said glass-run member being seated completely within the rail member and being secured atits mouth 1 to the opposite edges of the railgmember.

5. In door construction of thecharacter described, a doorrail member comprising a single piece of sheet metal flanged and shaped to form complementary Window inner and outer paneling at the side of the window opening, and a door edge wall, and a window runway member completely enclosed within the rail member and moldings,

bridging and secured at its mouth to theedges of the complementary window mold ing portions.

6. In a door of the character described, having a window opening, of a single piece of sheet metal having a panel portion extending across the door from the window opening to the bottom of the door beneath the window and a window molding portion at the bottom ofthe window opening, said piece of sheet metal having also rail portions extending along each side of the window, each rail portion being flanged and shaped to form complementary window moldings and inner and outer paneling at the sides of the window opening, said'single piece of sheet metal having also a continuous door edge wall portion and a marginal door closure flange extending the full height of the door along each edge thereof.

7. In a door ofthe character described having a window opening, a channel shaped glass runway member positioned at the side of the window opening, and a one piece sheet metal door rail member extending from one side wall of said channel member around the closed side to the other wall thereof, said glass runway beingseated completely within the rail member and being secured to the opposite edges of the rail member, said rail member having an integral overhanging closure flange portion.

8. In a door of the character described having a Window opening, a one piece sheet metal front panel comprising a lower panel portion and upper door rail portions one disposed on each side of said window opening, said front panel having an overhanging channel shaped of said lower panel portion being bent to form tubular posts, said posts having inner panel portions and moulding portions, the upper edge of said lower panel portion being inturned to form a window moulding, and said upper door rail portions being flanged and shaped to form complementary window mouldings and inner and outer paneling at the side of the window opening.

9. In a door of the character described having a window opening, aone piece sheet met-a1 front panel having a lower panel portion, the upper edge of said lower panel portion being inturned to form a window moulding, an angular shaped member secured along the lower edge of said window moulding portion one flange thereof extending downwardly, a bar disposed in parallelism to said downwardly extending flange, and a filling strip seated between said bar and said angle member, the upper edge of said filling strip adapted to frictionally engage the window glass.

10. In a door of the character described,

in combination, a single piece of sheet metal including a wall portion, an angle platehaving one leg secured to said edge wall portion, and a to the other leg of said angle plate. 1

11. A door for motor vehiclesv including,

in combination, a single piece of sheet metal including a panel portion and door edge wall portions, reenforcing plates secured to the nterior surface of saiddoor edge wall portions, and areenforcing tube horizontally disposed along the jamb side of the door with its ends secured to said plates.

' This specification'signed this 19th day of January, 1926.

panel portion and a door edge- ALBERT LLAMBERT.

glass run member suspended 

